I've been asked a question about the Duke's assassination in 1628 by an American who wanted to know what role Milady de Winter had in it. I replied that if he was going by the 1974 film "The Four Musketeers" then sadly, he'd been very much misled. For starters, John Felton was not a jailer in the Tower of London, he was a former solider who felt very aggrieved by the Duke failing to promote him. Secondly, the Duke tried to chase after him (not instantly dying as the film suggests) and Third, John was hailed as a hero (which the film certainly does not suggest)

It was this last bit, that I have to admit surprised me a little. I know that the Duke wasn't liked during his time as First Minister, but is it true that when he was killed (as Wikipedia suggests) "A large number of poems celebrating Felton and justifying his action were published" and if so, then just how unpopular was the Duke?

Easy one. Massively hated. Buckingham had been the source of all political favours and rewards under James I and managed to make the jump to favourite of Charles I . He dominated the landscape for around 20 years. If you sort office, land, power or position you pretty much had to be very wealthy yourself or be friends with Buckingham. If not, you got nothing. Since the political fiction was that the King could do no wrong, everything that went wrong was the fault of his Ministers....which pretty much meant Buckingham.

He was a horrible man. Started off as one of James I's toy boys (Honest!). Whilst he was pretty, he milked James for whatever he could get and cast a spell on Charles I until Fenton put him out of Britain's misery. Sir Thomas Wentworth disliked him but had to play the game that anyone who wanted advancement played. The Wentworth Papers tell the story of Buckingham's death. Day 1: A sailor approached Buckinghan complaining that he hadn't been paid for the last deathy cruise that Buckingham organised. Buckingham knocked him to the ground and killed him. Day 2: Fenton approached Buckingham on behalf of his men who had not been paid. Buckingham started to attack Fenton and Fenton stuck him one in the rib department. He didn't like it up him Mr. Mannering.Buckingham Foul Ups: La Rochelle equipment shortages. Elector Palatine, set out to return the Palatinate to (our) Princess Elizabeth and Husband Frederick who had been cast from their thrones by Austro Hungarian Catholics. They set out but every port they attempted to land at was also in a Roman Catholic country and didn't let them land. THey sailed around until the soldiers started dying and their bodies thrown onto the Nederland shores to be eaten by pigs. Buckingham lived on 'graft' back handers, bully boy tactics and playing people off against each other. I hope you will check this out. I've read it and studied Wentworth (Strafford) for a long time.Something else that you may find interesting is that very shortly after Buckingham's fortunate demise, Charles and Henrietta Maria turned from disliking each other to being in love. Charles even used to kiss her in public!The second Duke of Buckingham was also a bit of a degenerate but he appealed to Charles II's sense of humour and probably helped Charles keep sane through the brainwashing of the Presbyterians. Buckingham House, later Buckingham Palace was bought by George III for 28,000 of our english pounds. Some time ago, it reluctantly opened its doors to the public. Very fortuitous that not long after, the tramping of Proletariat feet had done so much damage that the Palace is in need of extensive refurbishment from the Public Purse. Surely they could sell it to a Hotel Chain and save us the bother. Imagine.... TRUMP PALACE!